Robert F. Drinan, S.J.

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Robert F. Drinan, S.J. (1920-2007) was a priest, legal scholar, social activist, human rights advocate, congressman, writer and lawyer. After receiving two degrees from Boston College, he graduated from Georgetown University with a LL.B. in 1949 and a LL.M. in 1950. From 1956 to 1970, he served as Professor of Law and Dean at Boston College Law School. In 1970, he was elected to Congress, the first Roman Catholic priest to serve as a voting member of that institution, representing the third (later fourth) Congressional District in Massachusetts. He resigned in 1980 and became a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. An internationally known human rights advocate, Fr. Drinan made trips to the Soviet Union, Argentina, Indochina, South Africa and Central America. One of the first representatives elected to Congress on an anti-Vietnam War platform, he sponsored much of the earliest legislation designed to end U.S. military involvement in Indochina. He later introduced the first resolution for the impeachment of President Richard Nixon and led the drive to abolish the House Internal Security Committee (formerly known as the House Un-American Activities Committee.)

Repository: Booth Family Center for Special Collections. For more information about this collection please email: speccoll@georgetown.edu